In the News

The University of California Davis on Wednesday launched an effort to establish a clean-energy hub in the Sacramento region and Bay Area that would drive innovations out of laboratories and into the marketplace.

More than 270 people attended a half-day event to kick off the effort to create a network of researchers, governments, corporations and investors.

Women have made little progress in breaking the glass ceiling at California’s top publicly traded companies, according to a report scheduled to be released today.

Citing “a bleak picture of the progress of women in corporate leadership” over the last five years, the report said that women held just 10.6% of executive positions and board seats at the state’s biggest companies this year, a slight decline over 2008.

The UC Davis Graduate School of Management has tagged as its new dean a London professor and “academic entrepreneur.”

The university announced Wednesday it has appointed Steven Currall, a vice dean and faculty member who holds joint positions at University College London and the London Business School, as its new dean effective July 1.

For a state that considers itself a hip, progressive trendsetter, California looks like anything but that when you peek inside the executive suites and boardrooms of its 400 largest companies.

Five years after UC Davis initiated the first study of the gender split at the top of corporate California, men still hold nearly nine of every 10 positions, according to the latest survey released today by our Graduate School of Management.

Professor Andrew Hargadon, the founding director of the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center (EEC), was featured in the May issue of Fast Company. The article recognized Hargadon’s leadership at the forefront of the energy efficiency wave by fostering networks linking entrepreneurs, scientists, venture capitalists and business students.

University College London has celebrated the opening of its £11.4m Engineering Front Building in an official ceremony attended by former minister for science, Lord Sainsbury.

Prof Steve Currall, vice-dean of enterprise and head of the Department of Management Science and Innovation, said: ‘We have a vision of UCL as a hub for enterprise and innovation activities and that is why we have made this significant investment.

Steven Currall has looked at people’s willingness to use new commercial products containing nanomaterials. Elizabeth Corley has found that nanotechnology is the first emerging technology where scientists are more concerned about the risks than are the public. Dan Kahan reports on public perception to nanotechnology.

In his talk, he discussed the role of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduates in developing economic prosperity in the UK. He argued for the development of education programmes for STEM students to develop entrepreneurial and business leadership skills that can be brought to bear in the companies they work for after graduation.

University College London (UCL) has launched an ambitious plan to boost its private funding by creating a new commercial science department that it hopes will entice top international researchers.

The department plans to hire up to 15 new researchers who would boost the university’s private funding. So far, the department has enticed five research-active academics from top-tier universities including Cambridge, Stanford and Cornell.

Steve Currall, professor of enterprise and the management of innovation at University College London, has been appointed to nTAG, the Nanotechnology Technical Advisory Group, which advises the US President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Public attitudes toward nanotechnology are currently pretty neutral. It’s up to government and the media to provide realistic assessments of risks and rewards

Nanotechnology has been around for years, but the general public is just beginning to learn about it. While many other emerging technologies have been boldly presented to the world’s consumers (for instance, genetically modified food), nanotechnology remains something of an enigma.

Nanotech Gearing Up For Big Holiday; Micro Field Goes Mainstream; With assortment of gifts, group aims to enlighten public about the benefits

If good things come in small packages, this should be quite a season for holiday gift giving. More than 350 types of nanotechnology consumer products might show up under Christmas trees year, say officials of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The group hosted a Web broadcast Tuesday to raise awareness about products that use some form of the technology.

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You may be exempted from the requirement to take certain core courses with the approval of the designated faculty member. Exemption, if granted, does not award course credit and you would take an additional elective to replace the exempted course.

Course exemptions are generally by examination or may be granted at the instructor’s discretion based on previous coursework.